Rapper Tyler the Creator Charged with Rioting at SXSW 2014

Tyler, the Creator performs on December 7, 2013 in Los Angeles, California.

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Police in Austin, Texas, arrested rapper Tyler the Creator on Saturday for allegedly urging fans to push their way past security guards into an overcrowded concert venue. He was charged with riot, a misdemeanor, with bail set at $3,500, according to a police statement.

The incident occurred Thursday at the South By Southwest music festival, where the 23-year-old Odd Future rapper was performing at a party hosted by Converse and Thrasher magazine at Scoot Inn. With the venue at capacity with 999 people inside, Tyler yelled to the crowd lined up outside, “All y’all outside the gates y’all push through,” according to the police affidavit. A large group stormed past employees at the door, according to police and reports from fans inside show, including a Spin journalist who wrote, “it felt like being hit with a wave.”

A representative of Tyler the Creator, whose name is Tyler Gregory Okonma, declined to comment. Yesterday a message posted on his Twitter account said, “Don’t want to cause any trouble, some are making me out to be a bad guy, so im not doing any shows tonight. Be safe have fun [expletive]!”

The arrest, which police said occurred without incident, came three days after two people were killed and two dozen injured during a car crash on one of the most crowded streets of the festival.The rapper’s career is closely linked with SXSW. His music collective Odd Future broke out amid massive buzz (and some volatile performances) at the 2011 installment of the festival.

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